Rotary Club Provides Weekend Food for Needy Students

In our country, there is an alarmingly high percentage of children who are hungry and rely on school lunches as their primary source of nutrition, according to a study completed earlier this year by a national non-profit organization called Share Our Strength.

The Carnegie-Collier Rotary Club has just started a program that will make a difference in our neck of the woods and will provide food for underprivileged children on the weekends.

Fifty backpacks were donated from one of the Rotary members and they filled them with school supplies to kick off the program at and Carlynton school districts.

Chartiers Valley identified 18 recipients based on the free and reduced lunch program and began distribution on Oct. 21. Carlynton will be starting their distribution soon and has identified about 22 recipients that qualify for the program.

“We wanted to start a program that was reasonable, sustainable, and affordable, as we work with the community to support us,” said Dr. Kay Phanse, president of the Carnegie-Collier Rotary Club. They have raised enough funds through a recent wine tasting event to sustain the program for at least two years and hope to continue longer.

The Rotary Club is providing funds to the Food Service Department of Chartiers Valley School District, managed by Nutrition, Inc., to purchase the food through their existing suppliers, saving on costs.

Members of the Rotary Club volunteer to pack the food into the backpacks each week for the students to take home. The first week, each backpack contained a jar of spaghetti sauce, a pound of pasta, granola bars, fruit cups, jelly and bread.

In the future, they are looking to include fresh fruit, macaroni and cheese, and much more.

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